Many organizations promote their strongest contributors into leadership.
Then wonder why performance declines.
Technical excellence and leadership excellence are not the same skill.
Top performers are often rewarded for:
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Personal expertise
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Speed
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Independence
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Individual results
Leadership requires:
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Patience
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Delegation
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Coaching
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Influence
The very habits that created success can become obstacles.
You see this in sports. Top players become coaches and soon it reveals that they are not competent coaches.
I started in this industry doing sales training and was shocked when management promoted top sales performers into sales management without confirming that they had the skills or demeanor to lead others.
Many new leaders continue solving every problem themselves because that behavior was rewarded for years.
The result?
Team dependence.
Bottlenecks.
Burnout.
Leadership begins when your success is measured by the growth of others.
Not the quality of your own work. The transition from contributor to leader requires more than a promotion. It requires a mindset shift.
This is why we created the Transformational Leadership course to ensure anyone in a leadership role has the understanding of the skills and expertise required to lead others.